The Gravity of War
by CandiChains
Summary: -PERMANENT HIATUS-"We need you, Varian. Fury's assembling a team" Natasha dropped a file on the table. "Its serious this time, you know he wouldn't ask if he didn't have any other choice." Varian Seneca has kept plenty of secrets from SHIELD, or more specifically, from Nick Fury. But when SHIELD asks her to help save the world, who is she to refuse?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers and all that jazz, only my OC's**

Natasha Romanoff strolled down the busy high street towards her target, a small café. The black and gold sign swung gently in the slight breeze; Memento House. She pushed the door open, the bell tinkling, and stepped inside. The woman at the counter idly flicked through a magazine, her apple green hair pulled loosely into a ponytail. Natasha purposefully walked over to her but before she could say a single word, the woman held up a finger.

"My lunch break is in 30 minutes, we'll talk then."

Natasha stood there deadpan, and just as she was about to reply, the woman spoke again. "Order a drink and sit down." She glanced up from her magazine and gave a saccharine smile. "Well?"

Natasha nodded tersely and glanced up at the menu, she knew if she wanted to talk, she would have to wait. She quickly ordered and sat down at a corner table. Natasha took this opportunity to observe the strange woman; she had changed since Natasha had last seen her. They'd need to get a new identification picture; the woman was far too good at avoiding cameras. She had dyed her hair, but she still had an undercut and her eyes were still a mesmerizing black-rimmed green, Natasha briefly wondered if she wore contacts. She was wearing her barista half apron over black jeggings and a crimson off shoulder tee, where the edge of a large tattoo could be seen, as well as a pair of worn white and orange hi-top sneakers.

As promised, half an hour later, the woman came over to the table and took the seat opposite. "Natasha Romanoff. I've been wondering when he would send you." The woman stated.

"Varian Seneca." Replied Romanoff. "I'm here on behalf of SHIELD."

Varian rocked her chair backwards slightly and placed her feet on the table, disinterest clearly written on her face. "If Nicky wanted my help, he should have come here himself."

" _Director_ Fury is busy." Natasha replied tersely. "We need you, Varian. Fury's assembling a team" she dropped a file on the table. "Its serious this time, you know he wouldn't ask if he didn't have any other choice. Your colleagues are all in that file, everything you need to know."

Varian studied her for a second before whipping her feet off the table and leaning forward. Romanoff jumped slightly at the sudden movement and her hand moved to her gun. Varian cocked her head slightly, never breaking eye contact, and narrowed her eyes " **what's in it for me**?" she growled, her voice rougher and slightly scratchier than before.

Natasha swallowed "We leave you in peace, you'll be in the wind."

Varian slowly raised an eyebrow " **Anything else? Or just that and, let me guess, the world's never-ending gratitude?** " she sighed dramatically and leaned back voice returning to its previous tone "I'm in, I've nothing else to do at any rate. When do we leave?"

Romanoff grinned slightly and stood up. "Right now. We have someone else we need you to pick up, you can read his files on the way there, and it might take a while."

Varian stood up "Give me ten" she replied before calling over to a slight, African-American man. "Hey Kato. I'm going, I might not be back for a while." He glanced over and nodded. "Take these," she said, reaching into her pockets and throwing him a bunch of keys; "You're in charge while I'm gone." He caught the keys deftly, and gave a small salute, before returning to his previous task.

She sauntered back over to a door behind the counter and disappeared for a moment. When she returned, she had ditched the apron and was wearing a black leather jacket with a shoulder bag and a metal baseball bat slung over her shoulder. Natasha raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"What?" Varian shrugged "It works!"

"If you say so."

 **Thanks for reading :D hope you liked it! If you didn't please review, and tell me where I went wrong. I can't get better unless I know why it's bad!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel, just my OC.**

The hover jet dropped the ladies near a slightly dilapidated shack on the edge of the bustling Indian capital, Kolkata.

"I'll do this myself." Varian stated firmly, looking over at Romanoff.

Romanoff gave a slight nod. "You know what Fury wants him for. Make sure he knows that too."

Varian chuckled. "You got it." She walked inside and settled herself on a cushion near the door.

Soon enough a girl ran through and crawled through the window, closely followed by Bruce Banner.

"Shoulda' got paid up front Banner." He muttered to himself.

"It is usually a good idea." Mused Varian. Banner turned at the unexpected voice, spotting her almost immediately, sitting cross-legged on a cushion. "You're less likely to get fucked over." She looked up and grinned. "I thought you were trying to _avoid_ stressful situations, honestly you'd be better off in Tibet."

Banner cautiously began to walk over, dropping his bag. "Avoiding stress isn't the secret."

Varian hummed, "If you say so."

Banner started wringing his hands nervously; "you brought me to the edge of the city, smart…"

"Why thank you" Varian fluttered her eyelashes.

"…I assume the whole place is surrounded?" He continued.

Varian bit her lip and pretended to think. "Hmm, yep, almost certainly. But I won't be needing any hypothetical backup now, will I?"

"Who are you, anyway?"

"Varian Seneca."

Banner paused and looked at his hands "Are you here to kill me, Miss Seneca? Because that really isn't going to end well for anyone."

Varian threw her head back and laughed. "Why on earth would I want to kill you?" she shook her head and patted a cushion next to her. "Sit down, I'm here for SHEILD."

"SHIELD." Banner muttered, "How did you find me?"

"I didn't, _they_ did. I am not, in fact, a part of SHIELD. But most likely they never lost you." She stated simply, patting the cushion next to her again. "Come on, I'm getting a sore neck."

Banner slowly pulled the cushion closer to himself and sank into it. "Who are you then? And why did they send _you_ to collect me?"

"Good question, I'm here instead of some SHIELD agent because you're more likely to trust me compared to an agent. As for _who_ I am, I'm someone sorta like you; minding my own business when suddenly they're asking me to do this and that for them." she rolled her eyes.

"This and that?" Bruce studied her suspiciously.

"yeah, they need _me_ to fight for them, but _you_ , they need for something else."

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"How do you know they didn't lie to _you_?

She chuckled slightly at this, "Trust me, I know if someone's lying to me."

"What if I say no?"

"Then I'll convince you."

"What if the _other_ guy says no?"

"I dunno, I'll convince him too." She shrugged and pulled a phone out of her pocket, " _This_ is the tesseract," she said, handing the phone over. "It has a ridiculously large amount of potential energy. In fact, if the wrong person got hold of it, it could _potentially_ destroy the planet.

"Let me guess," Banner grinned sardonically, "the wrong person got a hold of it."

"You hit the nail on the head." Varian grinned back.

"What does Fury want me for then? The other guy isn't one to play fetch."

Varian chuckled "Surprisingly, Fury doesn't actually want him, he wants you. The cube emits a very faint gamma radiation. And when it comes to gamma, word on the street is that you're the man for the job."

"So Fury isn't after the monster." Banner passed the phone back.

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?"

"Not a part of SHIELD remember. Nicky doesn't tell me anything."

"Nicky." Banner grinned in disbelief.

"It pisses him off. But seriously, Fury needs you on this."

"Does he need me or does he need me in a cage?"

"Nobody's going to put you in a cage."

"STOP LYING TO ME." Banner slammed his fists into the floor.

Varian didn't flinch. But her eyes darkened and her tone became rougher " **Don't test me Banner** ," She growled.

Banner straightened, and gave her an odd look. "That's not how most people react."

" **Well w-I'm not most people.** " Her eyes cleared and her tone returned to normal. "You're a terrible liar by the way."

"Who are you?" Banner queried.

Varian smiled knowingly. "Well? You in?" she held out a hand.

Banner looked suspiciously at her before dropping the subject and slowly took her hand, "As long as Fury keeps his word."

"I can't make any promises." Varian stood up. "But he does need you to find the damn thing."

 **Thank you so much to everyone who has favourited and followed, you have no idea how happy that makes me!**

 **Special thanks to Mage'Jam6554 for reviewing :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclamer: i don't own anything Marvel, only my OC**

The ride back to the helicarrier was uneventful to say the least. Varian slept through half of the journey as Banner read the notes on the tesseract and they talked for the rest. Varian concluded that Banner was a decent guy he had just been unlucky. When they finally landed, the sight of a bustling hive of activity greeted them. Banner was, understandably, unimpressed. Varian wandered out, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Natasha immediately walked over to another landing quinjet.

Varian reached over to where she could see Banner, hunched slightly and trying to get out of people's way while inevitably getting in someone else's, and gently pulled him over.

"Thanks." He muttered quickly, wringing his hands.

"Bad blood with the military?" Varian queried. He had been fine in Kolkata, which had been much busier than here.

"They're not overly fond of me, no." He glanced around nervously. Varian mentally face palmed, of course, General Ross, Banners file.

Seconds later Romanoff returned with a recognizable figure in tow.

"Doctor Banner." He called, holding out a hand to shake.

Banner took it, "Oh yeah, hi, they told me you'd be coming."

"And Miss Seneca, I assume." She gave a friendly wave.

Steve stared at her hair for a moment before turning back to Banner "Word is that you can find the cube."

Banner looked around nervously. "Is that the only word?"

"Only word I care about." Steve assured him.

Varian glanced over to Natasha curiously, "Just for the record, how much word you got on me?" Banner hadn't been given her file, so she hadn't had the opportunity to read it.

"Not as much as Fury would like." Natasha replied, one eyebrow cocked.

Varian giggled slightly "So only _the incident_ then."

"Thereabouts." Deadpanned Natasha.

Bruce, who had been talking to Steve, turned to Varian. "Incident?"

"Yeah, a couple years ago, the first time I met these guys, they tried to capture me because of this… thing… I may or may not have done. And then there was this thing with the lamppost and a car and… basically it didn't go too well for them, but we came to an agreement. I stay out of their way, and they stay out of mine." She said with a vague wave, "Just check my file, it'll probably have some other creepy stalker shit on there too."

Natasha glanced around and quickly cut into the conversation, "You might want to step inside in a minute, it's going to get a little hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve almost gasped previous conversation forgotten.

Banner looked around in disbelief "Really? They want _me_ in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner, Rodgers and Seneca all walked over to the edge of the platform to gaze into the turbulent waters, as enormous metal fans lifted up. "Oh no, this is much worse."

"Nicky really got himself an upgrade huh?" Varian murmured to herself.

Natasha led the group inside the helicarrier and to a large room filled with monitors and an enormous window. As they emerged through the doorway Steve slowed, gazing around in unconcealed amazement.

Fury turned from the monitors he was standing by. "Gentlemen, Seneca." He stated simply in greeting, giving Varian a surprisingly cordial, if serious, nod. As he swept past, Steve silently passed him a ten-dollar bill and continued to stare at the view.

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely. How long am I staying?"

"Once we have our hands on the tesseract you're in the wind" said Fury with a slight nod.

"Where are you with that?" Banner questioned, walking towards a set of monitors.

As they wandered off Varian took the opportunity to properly study the room around her, cataloguing the space. She slowly wandered over to where Natasha was crouching next to a screen displaying a familiar face. Varian quickly crouched down next to her and indicated the screen. "Where is Barton anyhow?" she queried. "I thought he'd be here."

Natasha looked over, face wiped of any trace of emotion. "He's been compromised." Varian's face slowly morphed into a scowl.

" **And you decided to withhold this information until now because?"**

Natasha slowly let her hand drift towards her gun, instantly on edge hearing the dangerous tone.

At that moment, Fury called for Romanoff and the spell was broken, Varian's expression cleared and she stood up swiftly. Natasha followed her warily, before relaxing slightly and turning to Fury.

"Can you take doctor Banner to his laboratory please." Fury repeated.

Natasha nodded curtly and strode over to Banner. "You're going to love it doc, we've got all the toys."

Natasha and Banner exited swiftly and Fury turned slowly to Varian. Varian smiled sweetly and sauntered over to where he was standing. "Nicky." She purred. Fury's eye twitched slightly in annoyance.

"Don't play games with me Seneca."

Varian simply rolled her eyes and got straight to the point. "So, from what I've gathered, you want me to be a part of some super secret team."

Fury blinked once, the only indication of surprise. "Essentially, yes. If you become part of the team, we will call on you when we have to and only then."

Varian nodded slowly "Being part of a team might be fun, for once. What have you got on me?" Fury looked at her with a mildly confused expression. Varian sighed in a long-suffering fashion. "What, on your files, indicates that I might be a good choice for someone on the team?" she spelled out condescendingly. Fury nodded slightly, ignoring the jab, and walked over to the large table picking up a tablet, quickly bringing up the files they had on Varian Seneca. He passed the tablet to her, she sat down and began reading, muttering to herself as she did so.

"High intelligence and strategy, why thank you. Advanced martial arts, check. Advanced agility, check. Enhanced strength, nope. Enhanced speed, Nu uh. Enhanced durability. Probable regenerative enhancement, what even is this Fury? Honestly. Wait what the fuck? I'm a _backup_ option? And here I thought you liked me." She shook her head and gave Fury a disappointed look.

"You're uncooperative and we still don't know enough about you. Not to mention that you are under suspicion of leading one of the most dangerous gangs in the state of New York." He glared at her. Varian waved him off.

"Anyhow, where did you get all this from? Seriously, enhanced strength, speed and durability? I thought you'd be better than this."

"You fell from a five story building, totaled a car with that bat and ran almost five hundred meters in under ten seconds. What else was I meant to think?" Fury crossed his arms.

Varian grinned and spread her arms out wide. "Localized momentum control via mass augmentation." She announced grandly. "How's that for cooperation?" When Fury didn't react she glowered and crossed her arms. "I can hit stuff harder by making myself heavier and I can go faster by making myself lighter but more complicated. That includes some things I'm directly touching, depending on the size." She pouted.

"How about the enhanced recovery?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I have literally no clue about that one, that one's bullshit."

"You were shot in the shoulder and almost certainly broke your ankle, but approximately month later you had no sign of any wounds."

Varian huffed. "That's from when I first met you all? That bullet fucking grazed me, and I _sprained_ my ankle, not broke it. I heal _well_ not fast, Fury. Happy?"

Fury nodded slowly. "Thank you, Miss Seneca."

"Whatever. Can I _go_ now?"

Fury scowled at her petulant tone, "Yes." He replied curtly.

Varian stood up and walked towards the door that Natasha and Bruce had exited through, she paused and turned back to Fury. "You wouldn't happen to have any showers on this thing would you?"

"What?" Fury asked in slight disbelief.

"Showers." She repeated slowly. "I've been to India and back. That's like, a day and a bit. I need a shower."

Fury glowered but motioned for one the agents to take her nonetheless. Unfortunately, before they managed to leave the room someone called out.

"We've got a hit 76 percent match. Wait 79 percent."

Fury looked over immediately. Varian stopped, looks like she wasn't going to have her shower after all.

"Location?" Coulson strode over.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

Fury turned to face Steve, "Captain. Seneca." He glanced over to where Varian stood in the doorway. "You're up."

 **Thank you everyone who's managed to get this far! I hope you're enjoying the story!**

 **I hope this answers your question Peoplers!**

 **Apologies, but the next chapter may take a bit, I have a bunch of stuff going on at the moment so I don't have much free time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey again everyone! i can't believe how many people have favourited/followed my story so thank you all so much!**

 **I've never really written an action sequence before so I've probably got the pacing all wrong in it, but if anyone has any tips, I'd love to know how to do that better!**

 **Anyhow, I don't own marvel or anything ect.. only my OCs**

Natasha led Varian into the changing room. "We thought you might want a suit."

Varian bounced excitedly, "Are you kidding me? Just think of all the pockets!"

Natasha shook her head slightly and picked up a black catsuit, much like the one she herself was wearing. Varian grabbed it and spun around, She quickly pulled off her shirt, revealing an enormous tattoo that filled her entire back. Before Natasha got a good look at it, Varian had already slipped into the suit and was zipping it up. Varian shrugged and raised her arms above her head, then swung downwards, almost folding in half. "Hmm not bad…" She stretched a little more as Natasha looked on, mildly amused. "I just need to…" she paused for a moment and swung her arms. In one smooth motion she neatly slipped off the top half of the suit and rummaged in her bag. Seconds later she stood back up, knife in hand, and smoothly cut the sleeves off. She pulled it back on and inspected the cut. "Much better." She dropped the knife back in the bag and twirled in front of Natasha. "How do I look? Awesome, I know!"

"You didn't have to destroy the suit." She smirked slightly.

"Nuh uh. Not destroyed, just _modified_."

Natasha shook her head and motioned towards a locker. "You can leave your things in there."

Varian scooped up her bag and shoved it in, taking out a handful of knives and her baseball bat. She stowed the knives in several of her numerous pockets and waved vaguely over at Natasha. "You wouldn't happen to have a gun I could borrow would you?"

Natasha snorted, "I'm sure I can find you something." She said dryly.

Now armed with a neat handgun, Varian jumped into the quinjet, strapping herself in for takeoff. She was closely followed by Natasha and Steve, now in full costume. Varian stared at him for a moment, giving a low whistle of approval. "Jeez cap' you suit up _good._ " This earned a flush of embarrassment from the man in question. Varian chortled with laughter, "Sorry, sorry, from the forties, right…" She chuckled. "But still…"

Natasha Dropped the two of them off, a minute from the Square where Loki, reportedly had a large group of hostages. They ran to the location, but before Varian could charge in, Steve placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wait." She paused and nodded; she signaled she was going to take a different angle.

She instantly lowered her mass and silently sped around the crowd. As Loki talked on she started to listen. "…. In the end, you will always kneel."

Slowly an old man stood up and turned to face Loki. "Not to men like you." Was he crazy?

"There are no men like me."

"There are always men like you."

Loki raised his staff and pointed at the man. "Look to your elder people, let him be an example." He fired his weapon.

In an instant Captain America was in front of the old man, shield raised. The blast bounced off the shield and slammed into Loki's chest. Loki fell to the ground heavily.

"You know, last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

As Cap' spoke and Loki slowly pulled himself to his feet, Varian took the opportunity to silently move up behind the god.

"The soldier, the man out of time."

"I'm not the one out of time."

Fifteen tons of baseball bat slammed into the side of Loki's head; a blow that would have killed any lesser man. Loki went flying, hitting a building and crashing to the ground. " **H-H-H-HOMERUN!** " she crowed in victory. The quinjet came soaring overhead and a cannon dropped out of a panel on the bottom.

Loki stood up and stormed back over to where she and Captain America stood. "What's this?" He spat. "They called in the criminal. Fury must be desperate."

Varian laughed darkly, " **He sure did.** " Without warning she was in action again, lightning fast she jumped over his head, landing behind him and planted a solid kick in his back. Loki stumbled forwards and Varian took a fighting stance, eyes glinting dangerously. " **I thought you were meant to be strong.** "

Natasha's voice rang out over the sounds of the fleeing crowd. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

Loki grinned viciously and fired a blast of energy towards the quinjet, keeping his eyes on the two in front of him. Natasha swerved, barely dodging the projectile. Cap' launched his shield, knocking Loki back a step and caught it again expertly, just in time to block Loki's staff. Loki knocked away the shield and thrust it violently into his chest. Captain America went flying backwards and landed in a roll. Loki blocked another swing from Varian's bat and deflected the blow towards the floor, unbalancing her for a moment. He proceeded to swipe the staff into her stomach, winding her slightly and flinging her back. Cap' threw his shield again but Loki deflected it and it went skittering into the ground. Varian forgotten for a moment, the two fought on. She had landed on her feet and took a moment to catch her breath, standing up again she picked up her bat, Loki wasn't going to make this easy, and that was exactly how she liked it.

" **Hey brat.** " Loki turned from where Cap' was once again on the ground and sneered at her. Varian sped towards him, but just as she was about to hit him, she seemingly disappeared. Loki spun to face behind him, she had tried this before, and she wouldn't succeed again. A bat made contact with his head once again, but this time from the side. She had used a quick change in direction to confuse him, knowing he would expect her to have jumped again. Loki stumbled and Varian swept his feet from under him. Loki stood up instantly and swung at her, she dodged nimbly and planted another solid blow to his sternum. Loki grabbed her by the arm and flung her. She landed on top of Steve but quickly rolled off. "You got a plan? Or is it hit him until we can put him in cuffs?"

Just as Cap' was about to answer, ACDC's Shoot to thrill rang out around the square. Everyone looked up in confusion. Suddenly Iron Man flew in and hit Loki with a hand cannon. Loki flew backwards and Tony Stark landed, full diva superhero style. Before Loki could move, Iron Man had armed every one of his weapons and had them pointed directly at him.

"Make a move Reindeer games."

Loki slowly raised his hands in submission and his battle armor faded out of existence. Dee and Cap' walked over to flank Iron Man as he powered down the weapons. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark" Cap glanced over, breathing heavily.

"Captain."

Varian stayed completely focused on Loki, and said nothing.

 **As always, thank you to all you amazing people who've got this far!**

 **Life's still pretty hectic, so the next chapter may take a while again (TnT) but will come eventually!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all! Its been a while since I've posted again but life is busy and all that.**

 **Disclaimer: I (obviously) don't own any of the characters apart from Varian**

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Natasha tossed a first aid kit at Varian as she sat down in the quinjet. She caught it and found the antiseptic wipes - road rash was a bitch and her elbows were shredded. Steve strapped the now cuffed Loki into a seat.

"What's that thing made of?" Steve nodded towards the bat Varian had dropped when she sat down.

"Huh?' Varian looked up from her task.

"Your bat, you sent Loki flying, but its not even dented!"

"Oh, its adamantium." Steve gave her a questioning look. "Sort of like what your shield's made of… sort of."

"Adamantium." Tony Stark butted in. "An almost indestructible alloy. How did you get your hands on so much?"

"I have my ways." Varian raised an eyebrow. "Tony Stark I assume? Nice suit."

Tony folded away the metal plate covering his face and mirrored her look. "And who are you meant to be?"

She smirked and offered a hand. "Varian Seneca. Fury called me along for the ride."

Tony took the proffered hand and shook it, staring at her suspiciously. "So not SHIELD then."

Varian chucked slightly. "No. Not a chance."

Tony nodded and the conversation petered off into an uncomfortable silence. Varian got back to patching herself up, leaving Steve and Tony to stand in silence and Loki to brood in his corner.

"I don't like it." Steve leaned towards Tony and Varian.

"What? Rock of ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still you are pretty spry, for an older fellow." He sniffed and looked at Steve. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

Steve turned to look at him. "What?"

"Its like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a capsicle." This elicited and snort from Varian.

Steve glared at Stark, "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"And Fury didn't tell me they were bringing her in." He nodded towards Varian. "There's a lot of stuff Fury doesn't tell us."

Lightning flashed through the sky and Loki's face went pale.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha queried from the cockpit.

"Good question." Varian studied Loki closely. "Looks like Reindeer Games knows though. What's up with you? Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

The ship jolted suddenly and everyone tensed and Varian picked up her bat, she had a feeling she might need it. Tony flipped down is visor and released the cargo door. "What are you doing?" Steve shouted over the sound of the wind.

A man landed heavily on the ramp and as Tony went to attack him, he was knocked backwards. The intruder grabbed Loki by the collar and dragged him out of the ship, lightning flashing menacingly.

Iron man stood up slowly, "and now there's that guy."

"Another Asguardian?" Natasha called from the cockpit.

"That guy's a friendly?

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him the tesseract is lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan – attack." Stark fired up his boosters and powered out of the quinjet.

Varian stared at Steve for a moment, a slow grin spreading over her face " **I like this guy. See you on the other side.** " She gave him a quick salute and sprinted towards the opening.

"No! Wait!" Steve reached out to stop her but it was too late, Varian had already plunged into the storm. "Is she crazy?" he shouted over to Natasha.

"Yes. But she'll be fine." She called back. "Look, I'd sit this one out cap' - These guys come from legend, they're basically gods."

Steve grabbed a parachute. "I don't see how I can. And there's only one God out there ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Varian was in free-fall, the wind tore her hair out of its hasty ponytail letting it whip around her face. She felt a laugh bubble up from her chest and burst madly from her, the adrenaline coursed through her veins and she howled with laughter.

The seconds ticked by and Varian calmed herself. She narrowed her eyes and angled herself towards where she could just about see Tony tackle the stranger off an outcrop. She noticed Loki settling down to watch what would doubtless be an interesting match as Tony bickered with the stranger. Suddenly it clicked. This must be Thor, Loki's brother - she had read the file.

She fell silently towards Loki and landed behind him, light as a feather, literally.

Varian noiselessly moved behind Loki and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him to his feet. "I thought a brat like you would be running away by now." She giggled and punched him in the face, hard. Loki's head snapped back but Varian kept a tight hold on his hair.

"What do you think you're doing, filthy mortal?" He spat viciously.

"Making sure _you_ don't go anywhere." She replied matter of factly. He struggled for a second but was quickly thrown over her shoulder, landing heavily on his front. Varian let go of his hair and promptly sat on him, pinning him to the ground.

Loki struggled to push her off or stand up but the more he struggled, the heavier she became until he could barely breath. Varian remained smugly astride him and slowly increased her mass every time he tried to make a move, only easing off a little when she could hear him fighting for breath.

Loki sopped struggling, realizing the futility of the situation. Unseen by Varian, he sneered, if he couldn't physically move her, he would have to make her move herself. Then he realized, if she so pleased, she may be able to crush him. Ah. Maybe insulting her would not help his current predicament. He resorted to a bitter silence.

Varian sat up as best she could, every inch of her straining to keep herself upright. Increasing her own mass made her body like lead, increasing the gravity pulling her down.

She looked around to where she could see captain America joining the fray, an immense blast of blue light lighting the forest. It looked like the fight was finally over.

She pulled Loki up and tied his hands. Grabbing him by the collar she marched towards the edge and dragged him off the cliff. Loki landed heavily but was quickly pulled to his feet.

"You boys quite finished?"

Varian sauntered over to here they were standing in a slightly dazed circle. They all turned to look at her questioningly.

"I mean while you were busy measuring your dicks, you left Loki completely unguarded." Varian roughly pulled Loki in front of herself, causing him to stumble slightly.

"Do not treat my brother with such disrespect!" Thor boomed angrily.

"Jeez, sorry." Varian replied, a little disgruntled. She turned to Tony, "Call Romanoff over would you? The sooner we get back to the helicarrier, the better." She looked round at the group, Thor giving a begrudging nod of agreement.

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 **Thank you to everyone who's got this far! Please tell me what you think of the story so far and whether i could make any improvements to my writing style ect.. (i know its pretty inconsistent)**

 **I hope you enjoy the story so far and many, many thanks to all of you wonderful people who have** **followed and favourited. it makes me so happy!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm not dead guys! sorry it took so long to write this, I had exams, lost my copy of the avengers and for some reason found this chapter really hard to write :/ Probably cause its mostly film dialogue (sorry about that) and i couldn't find may opportunities to get Vari to contribute to the conversation :P so basically i put all that bit in one :D. I've also already written a very large chunk of a later part of the story and have been stuck in this area. Good news is, i should be updating this fairly regularly for a while? (I honestly don't know though it depends on how much life wants to screw me over)**

 **Anyhow, now thats over, to the story!**

 **(disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or anything, just my OCs)**

Varian sat cross-legged on top the table on top of the slightly rounded SHIELD logo. She faced the others around the table but was staring intently at the screen in front of her. Loki was in a glass cage and still he managed to be insufferable. Though it did bring a hint to a grin to her face seeing Fury and Loki duel.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Joked Bruce.

Steve spoke up "Loki's going to drag this out, so…" He paused. "Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They are not of Asguard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people; they will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the tesseract." Thor paced somberly

"An army, from outer space." Steve glanced at Natasha in disbelief.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Eric Selvig for." Bruce nodded slowly

"Selvig?" Thor cut in

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." Natasha explained a well-concealed waver to her voice. Varian rolled her shoulders, brow darkening momentarily.

Steve sat up straighter "I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here"

Varian nodded "He could have left orders in his absence. Steve is right, bringing him in was way too easy for someone as strong as Loki. I mean, he wasn't even trying to run away earlier, when you were being childish." She stared pointedly at Thor.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guys brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him." Bruce interjected

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is still of Asgard and he is my brother." Thor glowered at Bruce

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha stated dryly

"He's adopted?"

Varian cocked an eyebrow, "I think Bruce may have a point, unless we have someone who can think crazy, we're not going to get anywhere."

Bruce nodded in agreement, "We need to think about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the iridium for?

"It's a stabilizing agent." A voice piped up from the corner, Tony Stark strolling into view. He seemed to be deep in conversation with an uncomfortable looking Coulson who moved away as they entered the room.

"Ah, the perfect candidate." Varian muttered to herself.

"It means the portal won't collapse in on itself, like it did at SHIELD." He strolled confidently over to where Thor was standing. "No hard feelings point break, you've got a mean swing." He patted Thor condescendingly on the arm. He continued to walk over to the control center. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." He looked back briefly before turning to the main area of the room; currently a hive of activity, filled with SHIELD agents. "Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." Tony muttered, waving his hands vaguely. Several agents paused briefly to look over, bemused. "That man is playing galaga." Tony pointed dramatically at someone across the room. Steve looked around confused. "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He continued turning back to the command station. He suddenly raised a hand to one eye and turned his head slightly. "How does Fury even see these?" Tony turned to where Agent Hill stood, arms folded.

"He turns."

"Sounds exhausting." Tony sauntered in front of one of the sets of screens and taped idly. "The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he needs now is a power source, with high energy density…" in the midst of his tapping and fumbling with the screens, Varian noticed Tony nonchalantly stick something beneath the computer. She would have to ask him later. Tony carried on without pause, " …something to…" He clicked and clapped his hands casually. Varian noted he really wasn't to stealthy, but it had been enough, Hill hadn't noticed. "Kick-start the cube." He shoved his hands back in his pockets

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill queried with a disdainful tone.

"Last night." Tony quickly quipped back, "The packet? Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers?" He turned to the group, "Am I the only one who did the reading?" He said with mock disbelief in his voice

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve interrupted.

"He'd have to heat the cube to one hundred and twenty million kelvin to break through the coulomb barrier." Bruce nodded to himself, fiddling with his glasses nervously. Tony opened his arms in mock relief, nodded in appreciation.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." He slowly sauntered over to here Bruce was standing.

"Well," Bruce countered, "If he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally." Tony gestured appreciatively at Bruce, looking at the rest of the group. "Someone who speaks English"

"Is that what just happened?" Steve muttered, disbelief evident in his voice.

Tony reached over to shake Bruce's hand. "Its good to meet you Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." He paused for a second. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you… lose control and turn into an enormous, green rage monster." He added quickly.

Banner's face twisted into a slight grimace and he pursed his lip. "Thanks." He nodded sarcastically.

At that moment, Fury strode into the room. "Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube." He stopped with a swish of leather. "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his." Steve looked up from the table "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a hydra weapon." He looked around for conformation.

"There is no magic Steve, its all science. Magic is just what we don't understand yet. " Varian glanced over at Fury, "Loki's staff is likely powered by the cube, if you check, the energy readings for both are likely to be similar, if not the same."

Fury glowered and crossed his arms, "we have already confirmed that, but what I want to know is how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Thor turned to fury in confusion. "Monkeys? I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve piped up excitedly, Tony rolled his eyes and Varian sighed. "I understood that reference."

"Bruce, if Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect, how hot would he have to get it to be to be able to break the coulomb barrier?" Varian propped her elbows on her knees, "He wouldn't, right?"

Bruce nodded, "In theory of you could stabilize it you wouldn't need any excess heat." Varian clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Tony raised his eyebrows. "And Trip knows quantum mechanics." An undertone of mocking laced the remark.

Varian narrowed her eyes at him and huffed. "Power rangers? Really? You couldn't come up with anything better?"

Tony blinked in surprise at her quick recognition of the comment. "What?" Varian taunted, "You think I've never heard that one before? " She shook her head in amusement. "But yes, I read a book on Quantum mechanics some time ago, I remember bits and pieces."

Tony raised an eyebrow and stuck his hands back into his pockets. "Impressive." A genuinely surprised look on his face. He turned back to Bruce, "Shall we play, Doctor?" He gestured towards the door. Bruce nodded and began to move in the direction of the lab.

"May I join you?" Varian queried, sliding off the table. Tony turned to look at her; "I have a feeling it'll be more interesting than sitting around here." She explained.

Tony shrugged, "If you like." Varian smiled openly, she had expected him to refuse, perhaps his ego too wounded to accept. Maybe she had judged him too soon?

"But first, I'm taking a shower." She looked over her shoulder, "Fury?" He nodded begrudgingly and waved an agent in her general direction. Varian turned back to Tony and Bruce; "I'll see you guys in a bit."

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll be getting back to the more interesting stuff soon so don't you worry :P**

 **I'd like to thank thisisjustaverageforme, ilovethee, and especially lizziecats for giving me the motivation i needed to finally finish writing this bloody chapter XD But in all honesty thank you so much for reviewing, it means so much to me 3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Guess what everybody! I'm not dead (again) okay so I lied last time about the regular updates and I have honestly no excuse. Please forgive me :(**

 **I still don't own anything but Vari. (I can't even make up my own bloody story) :P**

 **I can't promise frequent chapter updates, cause my brain won't let me do things sometimes, so I'm going to have to ask you all to bear with me!**

Varian gazed out of a window at the hollow center of the helicarrier, the sea rushing peacefully, miles below them. Relishing the few moments of peace between the traveling and fighting. She was not built to be contained within small areas for long periods of time, or at least not when in the presence of other people. Particularly when those people included Romanoff, sure, Romanoff had been called off but who would be stupid enough to relax in the presence of an agent? Varian idly picked at the scabs that coated her forearms, her brush with the pavement had been brief and had she not cut off the stupid arms of her suit, she would have been fine. But hell it was too late now.

Varian had changed back into her jeggings and crimson tee and the edge of a vibrant orange and black tattoo was clearly peeking over her right shoulder and curling a short distance up the side of her neck. The clothes admittedly suited her better than the catsuit, although they did clash a little with her green hair. Sighing she tore her gaze from the sea below and found the door to the large lab assigned to Banner and Stark.

As she was entering, she saw Tony jabbing Bruce with something possibly electric and pointy, Steve angrily striding in just behind her.

"Hey! Are you nuts?" Steve exclaimed angrily. Varian furrowed her eyebrows, what was he overreacting about? He was acting like Bruce was made of glass and nitroglycerine. Which to be fair wasn't too far from the truth, but Bruce could handle himself, she'd seen so in Calcutta. Varian was sure that anything Tony of all people could throw at him couldn't be any worse than the buzz and irritating tumult of the city in India.

"Jury's out." Tony spared Steve a glance before turning back to Banner. "You really have got a lid on it haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed?"

Steve stared at tony with a mixture of anger and disbelief, "Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are" Varian snorted audibly behind Steve, earning an angry glance backwards.

Tony seemed to finally notice her presence in the room and nodded at her. " Hey, speaking of grass. Look who's here. That was quick."

Bruce looked up and smiled nervously at her, "Hi, Varian."

Varian smiled widely back at him, "Hey Doctor." She turned back to Tony. "I just couldn't stay away Tony," She flicked her hair back dramatically, "After all, who could survive without your clever tongue?" She teased, shooting a meaningful look at Steve's back, hoping Tony would understand. Steve had come in and seconds later been disturbing the peace that had clearly been residing over the area as Tony and Bruce had worked, gentle prodding would definitely be an easy and fun way to get him back.

Tony paused for a second before his eyes widened in understanding. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, leaning closer to Vari "How about I show you how clever my tongue really is." Steve's ears turned an instant shade of scarlet, though the anger remained clearly visible.

"Is that really necessary?" He turned to Vari with an irked look. "He endangers all the personnel on this ship, and you think its time for _that_?" Steve's ears remained a lighter shade of pink. "No offence Dr. Banner."

"I-I-its alright." Banner stuttered. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Varian stifled another snort of laughter at the innuendo and Tony chucked, Steve didn't seem to catch on.

"You're tiptoeing big man, you need to strut." Tony waved the electric stick accusingly at Banner.

"And you need to focus on the problem Mr Stark." Steve went back to glaring at Tony, embarrassment seemingly forgotten.

"You think I'm not?" Tony retorted quickly, Steve's face froze in confusion. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Tony wandered over to a nearby table and picked up a bag of blueberries

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve raised his eyebrows.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony tossed a handful of blueberries in his mouth.

Varian nodded, "He's not going to tell you things that he thinks might change your decision to help him."

Tony pointed at her, mouth still half full of blueberries, and nodded enthusiastically. "It's bugging him too." Tony jerked his thumb over at Banner who looked up like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"uuuh… I just want to finish my work here and…" Bruce waved his hands around at the equipment in front of him and studiously avoided the gazes of the people around him.

"Doctor?" Steve fixed his gaze firmly on Bruce and a beat passed.

Bruce sighed imperceptibly and removed his glasses, fiddling with them nervously. "A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve nodded

Bruce gestured towards Tony, "Well, I think that was meant for you." Tony looked away and thrust the packet of blueberries at Bruce in triumph, Bruce accepting a small handful. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly," Tony sent a withering stare at Steve, "...building in New York?" He trailed off.

Bruce nodded "It's powered by an ARC Reactor, a self-sustaining energy source." Bruce looked up at Tony. "That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, is what he's getting at." Boasted Tony at Steve.

Steve remained stoic and unimpressed, turning back to Banner.

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce pointed at Tony and shrugged slightly "I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony stated casually, walking round the work bench and pulling a sleek tablet out of his pocket.

Varian, who had been sitting silently on a table till now, content to let the scene unfold in front of her, barked with laughter. "Ha! I knew it!" She chortled, grinning widely at Tony. "You stuck a bug on the bridge didn't you? I was hoping that's what you were doing."

"I'm sorry, did you say...?" Steve started angrily but Varian cut him off.

"Oh come on, he wasn't exactly subtle. I mean, sure, he likes to make an entrance but all that hand waving." She sighed in exasperation. "Sow long will it take?" She turned to Tony.

"A couple hours." Tony looked at Varian with a calculating stare, "Blueberry?" he offered the bag to Varian.

Varian accepted and smiled slyly at Tony "Don't worry, no-one else noticed."

Steve turned a withering glance towards Tony, "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" He turned the glare to Varian "And you, you didn't think it would be pertinent information to tell anyone sooner?"

Tony scoffed, "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

Varian sneered at Steve, his naivety was becoming annoying. "Fury doesn't own us, any of us." Varian paused for a second and gave Steve a venomous look. " **Most of us.** " She growled, correcting herself. "But he's still trying to manipulate us into fighting for something we don't even know. I want to know why, and what."

Steve gave Varian a hard look back. "I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them." He switched his gaze over to Tony.

"Following is not really my style." Tony casually chucked a handful of blueberries into his mouth.

Steve gave a hard, callous smile "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?" Tony retorted eyes hardening, squaring off against Steve. Varian exhaled gently through her nose and relaxed, there was no point in getting angry with Rodgers, after all he was the precious little soldier, he was conditioned to follow orders, not think for himself.

Bruce's unobtrusive voice cut in smoothly, "Steve, tell me none of this smells a

little funky to you?" He looked imploringly between the two men.

Steve paused for a second glancing at the people who surrounded him. "Just find the cube." He strode out, his presence leaving the room as soon as he had entered it.

 **Thank you all so much for reading again! I am still flabbergasted by the number of people who have fav/followed it. i honestly wasn't expecting more than like, three :D**

 **Love to Smoll-Sinner for reviewing. It means an insane amount to me and once again, any criticism you have on my writing style or Varian herself is not only welcome but actively wanted. The only way I'm going to get better is if you let me know what's wrong! Thanks as always xxxxx**


	8. permanent hiatus

Hi all! I want to start this by saying thank you so much to all the people who have favorited, followed, and left comments

Having re-read my story there are a million things i need to change to actually like any part of it so i'm afraid i'm dropping it permanently :(

Maybe some day i will get around to completely re-writing it but today is not that day

Love you guys xxx


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